Master of Science in Global Politics

at Durham University United Kingdom

The degree courses offered by the Department of Earth Sciences are intended to give you as much flexibility as possible while retaining the core Earth Science subjects. Individual degree courses are comprised of modules, and you will take a total of six modules (120 credits) in each academic year. This allows you to follow your own interests, as they develop.

In the first year, you will be introduced to major topics in Earth Sciences, developing the practical skills required to study rocks and fossils in the field. In Year 2 you will deepen your understanding of these topics. A key part of this year is to gain the knowledge and skills required to undertake your Dissertation. In Year 3 a mix of compulsory and elective modules allow you to specialise and study topics at the cutting-edge of Earth Sciences.

The MSci Earth Sciences course allows those with an aptitude to make the first steps to a research career. The majority of our degrees are accredited by the Geological Society of London, this gives you the assurance our teaching is of the highest quality, has been approved by an independent body of academics and industrialists and provides a fast track to Chartered Geologist status.

Our graduates secure employment in the fields of mineral exploration and petroleum geology, engineering geology, environmental and hydrogeology consultancies, GIS companies, geological surveys, as well as securing places on Masters and PhD courses. Numeracy, critical thinking and problem solving skills developed on the course are highly valued in a wide range of non-geoscience careers, including teaching, business management, insurance and accounting, banking and finance.

This course aims to bring you, in 12 months, to a position where you can embark with confidence on a wide range of careers, including taking a PhD in Mathematics or related disciplines. There is a wide range of taught modules on offer, and you will also produce a dissertation on a topic of current research interest taken from your choice of a wide range of subjects offered.

The three-year BSc Maths and Stats course combines a strong foundation in core mathematics and statistics with exciting recent developments in statistics and machine learning, providing a unique preparation for our data-driven future. A rigorous grounding in essential mathematical techniques and fundamental statistical principles and methods leads to the exploration of a wide range of topics central to modern statistics and machine learning, together with a year-long individual project module tackling a theoretical area or an applied problem in particular depth, possibly in collaboration with a company or other organisation.

Durham is one of the leading physics and astronomy departments in the UK, enrolling around 170 students each year. The dedication to our teaching and research consistently puts us high up in all the league tables. While studying here you will benefit from the buzz and creative environment of a large research department and join a dynamic and focused intellectual community. Our research ranges from fundamental elementary particle physics and cosmology to more applied topics in which we collaborate closely with industry.

We offer degrees in Physics, Physics and Astronomy, and Theoretical Physics, all of which are accredited by the Institute of Physics. Our course structures have been designed to provide flexibility in your final choice of degree course. The three-year BSc degree is aimed at those mainly interested in a degree in Physics as a preparation for a career not necessarily in the Physics area.

Our four-year MPhys degrees will suit those looking for professional training leading to research in physics or a physics-related career. The first year of the BSc and MPhys degree courses in Physics, Physics and Astronomy, and Theoretical Physics is identical, and it is possible to select modules in your second year such that you need not make a firm choice of course until the end of the second.

The BSc Environmental Geosciences course seeks to develop specialist geoscience students for careers in the environmental sector, further study or research. Graduates of our degree go on to work for companies in a range of relevant areas including environmental management, water management, energy, mining and geotechnics.

You may also go on to study for an MSc and PhD in more specialist areas including environmental geochemistry, hydrology, hydrogeology and geotechnics. The course has a special emphasis on employability and benefits from consultations with experts from the industry including Amec, Atkins, the Environment Agency, English Nature and Mott MacDonald.

The BEng Electronic Engineering degree is a high-quality three-year degree designed to offer you the knowledge and skills necessary to join engineering teams on graduation. It is complementary to the four-year Durham MEng, and transfer is possible between the courses up to the end of the second year. It is important to highlight that you also can transfer between the different Engineering programmes that we offer (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic, etc.) up until the end of the second year, provided that you meet the relevant progression requirements. We believe that students should make an informed decision about their futures and allowing our students to transfer between programmes, once they understand the different disciplines, demonstrates our commitment to this and the Department’s General Engineering philosophy.

In the first two years, the BEng covers the same broad base of engineering education as the MEng degree. The BEng prepares you for an exciting career in modern engineering, with the flexibility to respond to changing technologies.

This MA aims to introduce you to the issues involved in global cultural heritage management as a foundation for both professional and academic paths. It benefits from Durham University’s unique situation, living and studying within a UNESCO World Heritage Site and examines tangible and intangible heritage from international, national and local perspectives. Durham University established the first ever UNESCO Chair in Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage, held by Professor Robin Coningham. The degree has strong links with the Durham World Heritage Site and with other local, regional, national and international heritage sites and organisations, many of whom offer placement opportunities.

There are two routes through the MA: the Cultural Heritage Research route which concludes with a dissertation. The Professional Practice Route which concludes with an analytical case study report.

The Classics degree is language-focused, although how much language is studied and at what level depends upon you. The course is designed to be equally suitable for students who have A-levels (or equivalent) in Greek and/or Latin and for students with no experience in one or both languages. We offer modules in both Latin and Greek, in prose and verse, at every level, from complete beginner to very advanced, and you will be able to take modules which are appropriate to your level of language experience and (at Advanced and Higher levels) your particular interests in the subject.

Durham’s Psychology and Anthropology Departments pride themselves on excellence in both teaching and research. The breadth of complementary research strengths across the two Departments means that you are guaranteed to be taught by staff who are actively engaged in the interaction of psychological and anthropological approaches, and are leading figures in their field of research.

In Anthropology, you will use perspectives from human biology, cultural evolution, animal behaviour, and human evolution to illuminate inquiry into the mind and behaviour of past and present human and primate populations. You will learn how anthropology and psychology provide complementary and contrasting perspectives on what it is to be human, as well as a variety of quantitative and qualitative ways of addressing major questions. The interface of anthropology and psychology explicitly integrates intercultural, international and global issues. For example, in anthropology’s traditional focus on cultural diversity and the burgeoning recognition of psychology’s need to address cross-cultural issues and move away from studies biased by Western Educated Industrialised and Rich (WEIRD) samples.

The degree provides the opportunity to develop extensive subject-specific, interdisciplinary, and transferable skills. The course follows the British Psychological Society(BPS) guidelines with an extensive range of options in the final year, drawing both from work in fundamental scientific research and in applied areas of psychology and anthropology. You may choose to take modules that deepen your understanding of a smaller number of anthropologically and psychologically relevant topics or choose to take a more broad and varied selection. Several coherent pathways – for example in animal behaviour, infant and child development, and health – are possible, using complementary modules from the two departments.

Excellent research facilities are available, including a virtual reality suite, developmental testing facilities, and EEG labs (in psychology), as well as extensive collections of fossil hominin casts and material culture artefacts from around the globe, a sleep lab, hormone lab, and field station for primatology in South Africa (in Anthropology). You are encouraged to get involved in research being carried out by your lecturers, thus gaining a deeper and more hands-on understanding of the issues you are learning about in your degree, and adding to your contextual experience.

Liberal Arts offersyou the opportunity to design your own programme of study. The Liberal Arts degree complements Durham University’s Single and Joint Honours programmes, enabling you to study modules in up to four subjects in, and beyond, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. If you are looking for the freedom to follow your intellectual interests, wherever these might take you, then Liberal Arts might be the right degree for you.

In Liberal Arts, it is not only possible to study any subject in the Arts and Humanities, but also most subjects in the Social Sciences. It is possible, therefore, for students to combine History and Politics, for example, but also to study subjects in combinations less likely to be available in a Joint Honours programme, such as Theology and Anthropology, or Music and Sociology, or Philosophy and Geography.

If the subject which you regard as your primary interest is in the Social Sciences, you should apply for the Combined Honours in Social Sciences degree.